Tuesday, March 30, 2010

I need to be more like SCOTCHGUARD!

Scotchgard rocks! For those of you not familiar, Scotchgard works as a protector for various fabric surfaces. You spray it on clothes or furniture, and spills basically bead up and roll right off the surface. When I experience rough weight loss weeks (like last week), I wish I possessed a product, like Scotchgard, to spray on so the guilt and remorse from making mistakes rolls right off me!
So, after last Saturday's Weight Watchers meeting, I decided to use the information I obtained to create my own Scotchgard approach to learn from my mistakes. Again, the meeting reverberated the same theme...LEARN FROM EXPERIENCE. If I plan to "Scotchgard" the remainder of my weight loss endeavor, I must take heed and LEARN!


From my current WW stint, I discovered many challenges sometimes stand in the way of my weight loss goals:
  • Feeling guilty about falling of track- Instead of feeling guilty, weight watchers suggests that I learn from my uh-oh's and oh no's . I like to do what I call turning my uh-ohs and oh-no's into yo go's...as in YO GO GIRL! Sometimes unplanned errands after work without back-up snacks spells trouble. Trouble meaning, I find my self in the convenient store with a bag of Hot Fries beckoning me. And on occasion, my will power falters and the Hot Fries win an all expense paid trip to my stomach. But rather than feel guilty about eating a bag of Hot Fries (uh no!), I learned...leave the Hot Fries from whence they came, OR I choose a healthier snack like natural mixed nuts (YO GO!)


  • Not making time to look back and & forward: From past experiences I learned that fad diets failed me! You name it, I tried it: 3 Day Diet, The Cabbage Soup Diet, Heart Surgery Patient Diet, South Beach Diet, Atkins, (briefly), Diet Pills/Vitamin B Shot, Slim Fast, 7 Day Diet, etc. In the past I required instant gratification, so I chose to lose weight via fad diets. Yeah, the diets worked. I lost weight...temporarily. From my current WW participation, I realized, I never learned any long lasting habits to sustain and maintain weight loss. I now call those fad diets shortcuts to a quick fix.

  • My all or nothing attitude: My all or nothing attitude still remains another one of my big challenges. My leader suggested that I need to find some balance to combat my attitude. Lately, my slip up seem to result from a lack of planning and when I slip-up my frame of thought proposes that I throw in the towel and give up. Instead of giving up, I just tell myself turn the uh-ohs into a YOU GO by turning the next meal into a second chance to get it right.
My "Scotchgard Strategies"
  • Reflection: I usually take time to reflect on what works! As some of you know I refer to my weight loss reflections as glows and grows. I find reflection extremely important on my more successful weeks. On weeks when I own the scale, I make a list of strategies that I think contributed to my big loss for that week. When bad weeks crop up, I refer to my list of strategies to guide myself back in the right direction.

  • Making realistic changes: I often ask myself, "Can I live with the lifestyle changes I make...for the rest of my life?" On occasion, I impose unrealistic changes, like restricting myself from certain foods, which result in me temporarily jumping ship and struggling. As soon as I restrict myself from a specific food, for example pizza, I want nothing but to wrap my mouth around a cheesy piping hot pizza. And pretty soon I find myself face down, a$$ up at the nearest pizza buffet. WW teaches me that I can eat my favorite foods but in moderation.

  • View Uh-Ohs and Oh-No's as feedback: If I had to offer a new WW member one nugget of advice, based on my personal experience, I would let them know the importance of weighing in and attending the meetings weekly. Every time I struggle through a crummy week, I always threaten to use my no weigh in pass. Even though I threaten to use my pass, I never do...I weigh every week no matter what! Weighing in weekly gives me a gauge for how the following week unfolds. So when I gain, I work harder. In addition, attending the meetings always gives me the motivation & momentum I need to make it through the next week.
So, BAM... My "Scotchgard Strategies!" Whenever I feel myself slipping and sliding into another  one of my failure funks, I plan to revisit My "Scotchgard Strategies" in hopes that the guilt and remorse beads up and rolls off like Scotchgard baby! 


That's me letting the guilt bead up and roll off. In this pic I am really "Shakin' the Haters Off!"...lol. Oh by the way I lost .4 last week.



Tuesday, March 23, 2010

NSV...In YO Face Scale!

Blogging frustrates the crap out of me! Make no mistake, I adore blogging, BUT I feel pressured to write a certain number of posts weekly, and even more pressured to keep up with y'alls entertaining, informative blogs. But after much contemplation, I realized that I blog for  ME & for FREE; sooooo, that translates to...I am my own BOSS. And I guess that  means I blog when I get GOOD and READY...lol! 

In honor of Spring Break last week, I kinda sorta took a BREAK...from EVERYTHING: tracking my food intake, physical activity, blogging, you name it. Last Saturday's weigh in results further demonstrated my lackadaisical Spring Break attitude, more specifically my departure form making sound food choices.

The scale revealed a gain of .8...no cause for alarm. And yes, that makes two gains in a row. But rather than let the scale dictate my SUCCESS, I choose to ignore my last weigh-in results. The scale only tells part of my weight loss story.  Other than the scale, I utilize other factors to judge my progress: trying on my old BIG GIRL clothes (that now hang from my new silhouette), compliments from friends & family, comparing before & after pictures, my new wardrobe, etc.

So getting to the nitty gritty, my newest measure of success entails assessing my body's measurements. I took my first set of measurements in January and my comparison measurements were taken in mid-March:

January
  • Left Gun: 14"
  • Right Gun:13"
  • The Warlocks:40"
  • Badunkadunk: 47 1/2"
  • Waist:37"
  • L Ham Hock:26"
  • R Ham Hock:27" 
March
  • Left Gun: 12"       
  • Right Gun: 12"     
  • The Warlocks:41" 
  • Badunkadunk: 46 1/2
  • Waist:35"           
  • L Ham Hock:24"    
  • R Ham Hock:25"    
TOTAL LOSSES 
  • Left Gun:        -2"
  • Right Gun:      -1"
  • The Warlocks: +1?
  • Badunkadunk:  -1"
  • Waist:            -2"
  • L Ham Hock:    -2"
  • R Ham Hock:    -2"
FYI:
Warlocks: Plump breasts, which are typically quite large, and are usually reminisced upon while at a social function such as a hang out or backyard chit-chat.

Badunkadunk:A female booty/hips which is extremely large in comparison to her body, yet, observed by males as round, full, and sexy.

Ham Hocks: A prodigious, gelatinous, or otherwise unnecessarily large portion of meat on one's buttock/upper thigh region.

So, despite the unpleasantness emanating  from the scale for the past two weeks, my body measurement losses justify my hard work and missed happy hour opportunities. 

Besides the scale, how do you measure your weight loss success? 

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Imma Be...Imma Be...Imma Be

Imma be...Imma be...Imma be at the Black Eyed Peas concert tomorrow night! BLACK EYED PEAS! THE PEAS! BEP!
Around this time in the city of Houston, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo comes to town, and with it many country  recording artist (not really a country music fan). In addition to the country singers, the rodeo designates nights for R&B, Tejano, and mainstream POP artist.

Normally I bypass the concerts and head straight to the carnival for funnel cake, but when I heard the lineup included the BEP...I jumped at the chance to see the Peas for the first time! The BEP dominate my workout play list, so hearing those songs in person will be a delightful treat! 

Before I sign off, how bout some food for thought?
I found theses two bags of frozen veggies at HEB. You steam them in the microwave for 5 minutes and...voila! To add variety and bust food boredom,  I started exploring the vegetables in the freezer section, and I found a section of sauced veggies containing small amounts of sodium.
The picture pales in comparison to the actual taste of the Italian Garden Medley.

I tried my hand at fish tacos. I used the Thin Mission Corn Tortillas (1pt) and 3 oz. of tilapia. I squeezed a little lime on my tacos to add a lil flava!

And last but not least my quesadilla made from recycled Mealz on Wheelz chicken.  I used some leftover chicken my mom grilled.
Quick Quesadilla
  • 2 Whole Wheat Carb Control Tortillas
  • 3 oz of Grilled Chicken
  • 1 slice of Weight Watchers Pepper Jack Cheese
  1. Spray a skillet and lay 1 tortilla on sprayed surface.
  2. Place 1/2 the slice of cheese on the tortilla, then layer the chicken.
  3. Place the remaining slice of cheese on the chicken  and lay the other tortilla on top of the cheese and chicken.
  4. Spray the top of the tortilla you just layed on top of your chicken and cheese.
  5. Let the bottom tortilla brown and then flip. I like my tortillas crispy.
  6. Remove the quesadilla from the skillet and cut  into 4 pieces with a pizza cutter.

Challenge Check In tomorrow...but in the mean time grab your buttons from HERE.

Monday, March 15, 2010

I split my pants...lol

So, I squeezed in a lot of activity today. With the beautiful weather here until Tuesday, I wanted to take advantage of every sunny minute and soak up some Vitamin D. Yesterday, I decided to wash my car MYSELF, but I never got around to it. Today, car-washing topped my to-do list.

That looks like 20 activity points worth of dirt caked on my vehicle. Actually I looked up the activity points value for washing a car. I earned 4 points for 90 minutes of car washing and car care (i.e. vacuuming, squatting and scrubbing, etc.) 

BAM!
So on to some pants splitting fun with my boys. Unbeknown to them,I made plans for the boys to join me at the park while I start Week 4 Day 1 (WK4D1) of my Couch to 5K (C25K) training. Did I mention I started the C25K training...AGAIN?! Well my friends, My mom and I intend to run the Summer Kick-Off Fun Run on May 8th. Why do they call runs fun? Ironically, I find nothing fun about running.

As I prepare for my first run, I am filled with trepidation and fear. Hopefully on the day of the run, my endorphins kick in and I run like a champ. I just want to complete my first run, so I can get my feet wet and catch the 5K fever. This Summer Kick-Off Fun Run will be my first 5K, and certainly not my LAST!

Okay...okay, on to my busted pants. While taking a much needed H2O break after knocking out WK4D1, my boys sauntered over to inform me about their adventurous trail expeditions. The boy's trail tales intrigued me, so I told them to lead me to the fun!
Okay, here's where the trouble started. My boys warned me about parts of the trail that required some climbing skills, but I failed to heed their warning. Well...too late to turn back now, so ONWARD! 
Look at the steep hill in the background. Trail #1 contained many hilly parts which I successfully conquered with my own brand of clumsy flair.
Speaking of clumsy, on to trail #2. Now, here's where the shenanigans and hi-jinks began.

My pants after the butt slide. And I went to Wal-Mart with this dirty butt. I hope I do not end up on one of those people of Wal-Mart emails that circulate around the country.
The first obstacle (the butt slide) at the beginning of the trail clued me in to the perils that awaited. But NO, once again I failed to heed the warning:
Good times...good times! And YES,I did split my pants...lol.
You'd think I'd quit while I was ahead. Nope! We collectively decided to check out Trail #3. On the way to our next adventure I cut my hand on a stick, but I survived the minor scrape.
While walking the trail, I questioned my boys several times about the legitimacy of trial #3. The trail resembled that of a uncharted jungle in the making. After swatting the foliage with a stick the greenery thinned out and this peaceful scene unfolded before us.
We found interesting tiny prints from some little creature.
Well that concludes my Trail Mix adventures. After our 3 expeditions we decided to hang around the park as the sun retreated behind the trees.
Watching the boys climb the tree looked like fun, but I dared not try.
As we prepared to leave, we met a nice older couple that schooled the boys in Squirrel 101. 
 As we drove to Wal-Mart for produce we all laughed AGAIN about my busted pants...LOL! GOOD TIMES!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

Spring has Sprung and yours truly plans to enjoy the next week OFF for SPRING BREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!
 With that being said, I decided to make this post a quickie. For today's weigh in results, the *insert profanity here* scale displayed a  2 lbs. gain. But I told the scale, whatevs...still 50 lbs down. Next week I plan to bitchslap the scale with a HUGE LOSS! Well, I decided to sPend this beautiful, gorgeous day (70 & SUNNY) outdoors and not cooped up inside on this laptop. HOLLA!! 

Reminder, turn your clocks forward tonight!!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

GET IT TOGETHER TRINA!!!!!

Today I ate a bunch of crap! My shoulders sag with the weight of the world on them! That is all. {{{Shake it off!}}} Eye of the Tiger...Eye of the Tiger!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Challenge Check In (Week 3)...How'd you do?

So, how goes it challenge participants? Well, you already know how I did. I only mentioned my victory 155 times. In case you missed my last post, I finally garnered my 50lb bling from Weight Watchers. "YOU GOT OWNED SCALE!" Bring it on week 4...EYE of the TIGER BABY!

Yeah, I know...BIG talker now when last week I cried like a lil girl all account of the uncooperative scale. For the time being you can put away your violins...I'm good (for now...)!

So, here's the link thingy I refered to in my vlog. Link up and share the fabulousless of your blog. Grab your victory button and show off! See ya next week!





Sunday, March 7, 2010

Nothing is NIFTY as losing FIFTY!!!

*EXHALE* I want to quit my job and just blog all day. If you know anyone looking for a wife to support while she establishes a blogging career email me.

So, last week I spent my extra time (usually set aside for blogging) preparing for my yearly Professional Development Appraisal System (PDAS) observation at work. In short, the Assistant Principal observed me teaching a lesson to my students. To keep you from further suspense, YES...I ROCKED the observation. R-O-C-K-E-D IT! So, all of my time spent away from blogging preparing for the PDAS paid off! And you can rest assure knowing I always feel a little twinge of guilt when away from blogging.

BUT...I AM BACK AND I BRING WITH ME SOME FABULOUS NEWS...keep reading.

50 is:
  • the number of states in the United States
  • the percentage equivalent to one half...fifty-fifty
  • the nickname of the rapper 50 cents
  • the number of chapters in the book of Genesis
Okay, okay...let me cut to the chase! 50 is the number of pounds REMOVED from my body!! I DID IT! Now y'all can call me 50 (Fiddy) like the rapper. I finally earned my 50 lb. BLING! Check it out:
This week I lost 4 pounds for a total of 52.2 lbs GONE!!! When I reported or rather insanely screamed the results into the phone to my Mom, (I had to scream over her screams of excitement) she asked what did I do different last week to help me reach my milestone. So I present to you, my GLOWS and GROWS:

GLOWS: Tracking
Last week, I vigilantly tracked daily. Tracking helped me make better snack choices. One day I faced the dilemma of choosing between a TB of peanut butter and celery sticks for 2 pts. or a Thomas Bagel Thin and 2 slices of deli meat for a grand total of 1.5 pts. So you know which snack won...right? For me it's all about getting a bang for my points.


 

GLOWS: New Points Strategy
Okay, since I struggle the most in the evening (keep in mind I eat brunch lunch at 10:15 AM) I decided to allot a certain number of points for each meal in hopes that enough points remain for a decent dinner and after dinner dessert or snack: 4 points for breakfast, 5 points for lunch, and 5 for snacks throughout the day. If I stick to my points allotment, I should return home from work with ...uh oh...I just thought about something.

HOLY DOG POO BATMAN, me thinks it's points recalculation time...Be Right Back.

Well that's just CRAPtastic,I moseyed on over to the WW website and, to my horror I discovered that I went down a point. I now get 23 points a day. *Heavy Sigh*

Okay, I made a slight adjustment, so now I decided on the following points allotment: 4 points for breakfast, 5 points for lunch, and 4 points for snacks throughout the day. Soooooo, I should return home from work with 10 points...give or take (probably take)..

My favorite 4 point Breakfasts:
Tony Chachere's Chicken Sausage 2 oz (2 pt), egg whites (1 pt), & potatoes O'Brien (1 pts)...o and I added some bootleg picante sauce from the school cafeteria (0 pts)
 
Fruited Bran Muffin ( very filling for 3 points). My mom made these, so she holds the recipe. I will probably forget, but I plan to post it on a future post. Just harass me repeatedly until I post the Fruited Muffin recipe.  The muffins contain fresh bananas, apples, and blueberries...YUM!
 

One of last week's 5 point lunches:
Mom's Homemade Veggie Soup (guesstimated points @ 1 or 2 pts), Thomas Everything Bagel Thin (1 pt), deli meat (1 pt), &WW Pepper Jack Cheese (1 pt)

#1 GLOW: BEANS!
Beans...the magical fruit, the more you eat the more you toot...lol! Courtesy of  Mom's Mealz on Wheelz Program, I ate beans EVERYDAY: Red Beans, Black Beans, Pinto Beans, Great Northern Beans, and Purple Hull Peas! I'm talkin' bout good ole' cooked beans, NOT CANNED! According to my Mom, the fiber from the beans kept me full longer which made me waaaay less snacky!!

Some of my favorite bean infused meals:
 
1/2 c Great Northern Beans (2 pts) 1 c brown rice (2pts)...not pictured cucumbers.
 


GROWS:Meal Planning
My plan to plan my meals fell by the wayside a while back. The Mealz on Wheelz program pretty much saves me every week. My mom packages the food in serving sizes, so I just grab-n-go! With my mom's help, the only thing left for me to do is prepare sides to go along with her entrees. Most of the time my oldest eats from the Mealz on Wheelz program, but my youngest thinks I'm a short order cook.


GROWS: Sleep Deprivation 
I feel discombobulated every morning due to a lack of sleep. I vow to turn in by 10:00 PM every night this week, regardless of my to-do list. Some nights I pass out from exhaustion, and for those sleepless nights I found this nifty iTouch app called Ambiance. This app allows me to download some of my favorite sounds to be used to lull me into a deep slumber:wind chimes, rain on a greenhouse, rain and thunder, Oklahoma summer night, etc.

Well, the clock just struck 10:01 PM, so that means so long & farewell. And believe me when I say, you have not heard the last of this 50 pound weight loss. I think a new 50 lb victory dance is in order. I also have a few other vlogs planned as well as a couple of other things up my sleeve. So stay tuned!


O and THANKS to everyone who pushed me through my mini crisis a few weeks ago...see with my determination and your support...BAM, 52.2 POUNDS GONE!

If you like this post, check these out (crap, the clock just struck 10:35 PM...FAIL!):
G'Night for real this time!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Challenge Check In (Week 2)...How'd you do?

A big thanks to everyone leaving comments on my cry for help post. THANK YOU for your continued encouragement and support! So, how'd you do last week?


Grab your button! More buttons to follow for those losing more than three pounds, and also the button for completion of week 2 mini-goal.

 

 

Monday, March 1, 2010

When life gives you lemons...make lemon drop martinis!

I actually started writing this post on Saturday, but then the post started drifting in too many different directions...

So I tweet now...like I needed another distraction. Anyway, Fabulous Financials &Fitness a.k.a. @singlema re-tweeted one of my tweets as a motivational quote:
"When life gives you lemons, make lemon drop martinis."
Lemon Drop Martinis
Ingredients:
  • 1 1/4 ounce(s) Smirnoff No. 21 Vodka
  • 1/4 ounce(s) triple sec
  • 3/4 ounce(s) lemon juice
Directions
  1. In a shaker with ice, add Smirnoff No. 21 Vodka, triple sec, and lemon juice.
  2. Shake well.
  3. Strain into chilled martini glass rimmed with sugar (optional).
I actually thought I created that lemon drop martini quote. When I entered the quote into a internet search engine I got a couple of hits. I guess I am not as clever as I thought...lol. Anywho, after last week, I needed several lemon drops! And from the blog posts I read, MANY other bloggers needed a martini too. 

The sentiments of my last post appeared to be the theme of many posts, and mirrored the feelings of other bloggers. Erin over at Losin' It and Kristina from Off the Couch felt my pain and related to my meltdown. To recap, I basically freaked out after not hitting my 50 lbs loss milestone...AGAIN!! And so, I decided to SHUT IT DOWN and took last week off: no tracking, 2 workouts, crap-eating, and points...what points? 

Today, after my weigh in (+1) I came to my senses. I learned my lesson(s), and walked away with many glows and grows. If you recollect, my grows and glows represent my lifestyle change hits and misses.

GROWS: I now realize that some of my high risk behaviors seem to be resurfacing. Now what? I need to determine which foods help or hurt my efforts. Trigger foods that hinder my progress must stay OUT or be REMOVED from my kitchen!

GROWS: Remember to forgive myself and move on. I now realize sometimes I need to step away and reevaluate my weight loss endeavor goals and objectives.

GLOWS: Last week I eventually found my way back to the gym after a 6 day hiatus. I remember sitting on the couch one night last week telling Pecan Man "This feels good." He turns to me and says, "What feels good?" My reply, "Doing nothing! coming home, sitting on the couch, and doing nothing!" It felt good, but not right.

Me in my sweaty glory!

GLOWS: Despite some of the bad food choices I made...some good choices materialized too. Take for instance this Panko Fried Shrimp:
  
5 points for the entire meal.

Another stellar choice...my curry chicken salad served with homemade coleslaw and broccoli...6 points

  
 

I planned to post the C.A.A.B.E.C WK 2 check video in tonight, but my eyelids feel heavy thanks to my cup of Theraflu. Yes, you guessed it! The heebie jeebies found a new body to inhabit :-(  I dodged the heebie jeebie bullet for weeks, now BAM...MAN DOWN!

Join the "CUTE as a BUNNY Weight Loss Challenge"

Join the "CUTE as a BUNNY Weight Loss Challenge"
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